Local favorites on television

By Amanda Vasquez

The Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and The Travel Channel's "Man v. Food" have become quite popular due to their ability to expose the best of local food. In "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," host Guy Fieri travels the country searching for the best independent eateries around. In "Man v. Food," host Adam Richman searches for the biggest food in American cities and takes on some of the oldest eating challenges. Students at Santa Clara may not realize how close they are to three of the eateries discovered on these shows.

The first is Falafel Drive-In in San Jose. This Middle Eastern fast food drive-in was featured in the "Totally Fried" episode of "Diners, Drive Ins and Dives." It was founded in 1966 and is family owned. The food is so well received by customers that the recipes haven't changed in 43 years. Walk right up to the outdoor counter and order the famous combo, a large falafel with banana shake. The falafel is a pita sandwich consisting of falafel balls, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, family recipe tahini sauce and their famous hot sauce. For those of you who don't know, falafel balls consist of fried chickpeas, and tahini sauce is derived from sesame seeds, so the whole meal is vegetarian.

One word of warning: do not underestimate the hot sauce. The falafel is served with the banana shake for a reason, to soothe over the spice. The two in combination are complementary and work flawlessly together. Other famous menu items include hummus plates, gyros and koubby. But be sure to get there early because the line can stretch out into the street.

Another destination eatery is Iguana's, which not only features a famous eating challenge but is also rumored to be the launching pad for one famous competitive eater: Joey Chestnut. Chestnut was a San Jose State University student who took on the Burritozilla Challenge.

Burritozilla is an 18 inch long, five pound burrito that is bound to make your stomach ache. It is filled with so much meat, cheese, beans, rice, guacamole, sour cream and salsa that it takes three tortillas to wrap it all up.

Two Santa Clara students attempted the challenge, sophomores Gavin Powell and Alex Heirl, but when they saw the actual enormity that was the burrito they decided to split one instead. Even though they were only responsible for eating half of the burrito, they still had problems forcing it down. It took them 18 minutes to finish, which doesn't quite make the three minute and ten second cut that Chestnut set on an memorable episode of "Man v. Food." When asked how they were feeling afterwards, Gavin Powell said, "It is definitely something I need to walk off." Apparently only one in ten people typically complete the eating challenge, even though the burrito is ordered quite regularly. The restaurant has specific days when the contest is held and the winners receive cash and other prizes. If you're feeling up for the challenge, there should be one coming up within the next month.

The last restaurant featured is the one closest to home: SmokeEaters. It is just across the street from the Santa Clara campus and has been serving students here for years. They pride themselves on having hot food, cold beer and great sports. And with seven signature hot sauces that are made fresh daily, it seems as though they are living up to expectations.

SmokeEaters was featured on "Man vs. Food" for its famous Hellfire Challenge. To complete the task successfully, the challenger must eat 12 of the hottest wings in the world within a ten minute time limit. As if that weren't bad enough, there are no drinks or napkins allowed during the challenge, and the contestant must withstand five minutes of "after burn," as SmokeEaters calls it. If the challenger is able to handle all of this, they receive a SmokeEaters T-shirt and their picture on the restaurant's Wall of Flame. The contest is no easy task, as I had difficulty finding even one Santa Clara student to take on the challenge by press time.

So when Benson just isn't cutting it, you can always try one of these famous food hot spots for a change of pace.

Contact Amanda Vasquez at avasquez@scu.edu.